Nevada Northern Railway Museum
The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is a railway museum in northern Nevada in Ely . The museum consists of the museum railroad operations operated by the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation and the railway station in East Ely. The station area is a National Historic Landmark .
museum
In the early 1980s, it was announced that the Kennecott Copper mining company would cease operations on the Nevada Northern Railway . Encouraged by the tourist trains that have already been carried out, they wanted this traffic to continue. However, the mining company had no interest in it, but agreed to the transfer of ownership of the Northern Nevada Railway to an appropriate operator. In 1987, for example, the newly established non-profit organization White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation was given the company assets (route, buildings, operating documents) worth 7.2 million dollars . However, at this point in time, the club had no income to ensure entertainment. Larger companies that could have provided financial support were no longer in the region after the mining operations left.
In the years that followed, volunteers began restoring passenger cars and the number 40 locomotive, and in 1990 opened the museum. In exchange for the Cherry Creek train station building at the White Pine Public Museum, the two steam locomotives No. 81 and No. 93 were acquired. Two earlier ALCo diesel locomotives were also acquired. The 6,000 or so visitors a year, however, were not enough to ensure operation over the long term. The attempt to dedicate the railway as a state park failed. However, in 1990 the Nevada Division of Museums and History took over the station building and the goods shed from East Ely and, after a renovation in 1992, established a branch of the Nevada State Railroad Museum with the "East Ely Railroad Depot Museum" . The mission-style building was built in 1907 and has largely been preserved in its original form. The museum keeps all of the operating documents of the former Nevada Northern. This measure freed the museum railway from the maintenance costs for these buildings.
In an accident in 1995 with an out of control freight car and locomotive 93, it was so badly damaged that it was not possible to restart it quickly. As a result, rail operations had to be stopped this year. In the period that followed, rail operations were further restricted. Only the fees of the Northern Nevada Railroad and the BHP Nevada Railroad for using the route of the museum railroad made it possible to maintain operations.
In 2002 the museum railway was no longer able to ensure orderly regular operation with 49 trips carried out. That is why the entrepreneur Mark Bassett was appointed managing director. In order to generate enough income, he set a timetable with trains running four days a week. 698 trips could be planned and carried out in 2006. The offer includes not only normal museum train rides, but also rides with an accompanying program on certain occasions, such as Halloween . The number of passengers rose to 14,000. In order to expand the museum's offerings, the locomotive treatment facilities were made accessible to visitors. On special tours you can visit the forge and the repair workshops and experience them in action.
As early as 1984, the East Ely station building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Since the entire station area depicts the condition largely unchanged during the steam locomotive, this has also been on the list of monuments since 1993 as "Nevada Northern Railway East Ely Yards and Shops". On September 20, 2006, it was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks .
Route network
The Northern Nevada Railway Museum operates the Northern Nevada route between Keystone near Ruth via East Ely to McGill via McGill Junction and to Adverse at McGill.
Vehicle fleet
The museum has three steam locomotives. The locomotive no. 40 ( wheel arrangement 2'C) built by Baldwin in 1910 and the no. 93 (1'D) built in 1909 by ALCo are operational. The non-operational 1'D locomotive No. 81 was manufactured by Baldwin in 1917.
Four of the nine diesel locomotives are operational. These are an ALCO RS-2 , an ALCO RS-3 , an EMD SD9 and a GE 25-ton switcher . The inoperable locomotives are a Baldwin VO-1000 , a BLH S-12 , an ALCO RS-3 and two ALCO MRS-1 .
Two electric locomotives from General Electric were taken over from the former mining company Kennecott Copper .
The seven passenger cars from the years 1886 to 1928 are in different condition. Two cars are currently being restored.
The museum also has an operational steam-powered rail crane , which is also used on special photo shoots and a Rotary snowblower from the year 1907th
literature
- Peter A. Hansen: Nevada treasure . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., October 2006, ISSN 0041-0934 , p. 42-49 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ely Times, April 30, 2009 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Entry in the register of National Historic Landmarks ( memento of the original from September 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Nevada. National Park Service , accessed August 17, 2019.
Coordinates: 39 ° 15 '34.3 " N , 114 ° 52' 8.8" W.